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Days Until Heartbreak/Light
hope is like the stars ever so bright i've been given new hope i'm walking in the light part twenty eight of Days Until Heartbreak The next few days pass in a blur. Aura and I focus on having meetings with some of the older members every day to see if we can solve some of the issues that have come up. "I think we need to form a truce with the toms," I declare one day. "Are you insane?" Aura sighs, "We can't do that." "Why not?" I counter, "We need allies to fight this war. There's not enough of us to defeat all the rogues." "We could ask the Alcove," Dew suggests, "Didn't you say that they had a lot of cats there?" "Only about twenty or so," I shrug, "Plus, they're misfits and they don't exactly trust us. I'm not sure if they'll agree." I admit, "And," I stare pointedly at Aura, "you've made it clear we can't side with toms. Half of the Alcove's population is toms." The silver she-cat mutters, "Tell Dew that, not me, it was her idea after all." "We could just inform the toms that the Clans are declaring war on us," Frost suggests, "After all, the Clans won't just ignore them because they aren't part of us. They'll probably attack the toms too. We don't have to be allies with them, but we could just tell them to join the war with us." "That's the same thing as being allies with them," Leaf sighs. "The toms aren't on organized group," I shake my head, "Trust me on this." "You could just tell your tom and he could inform the rest of them," Dew mutters. I glare at him. Aura shushs the gray she-cat. They've accepted that I'm in love with a tom and doesn't bother with the whole deal. I mean I haven't gone off to meet him anymore since Ice told me he'd find me when we could meet up again, but that's not the point. "I told you," I growl, "That's not going to work." Hector looks hesitant. She's the youngest of us all but I invited her because I told all the older member who weren't our disciples to join the meetings. "I knew a group of toms who were like messengers for the toms. I was with them until I met you guys of course. They help the toms know what's going on around the area." "Perfect!" Aura declares, "We could just do that." "Frost," I tell the white she-cat, "You take Hector and the two newer older members and find that group of toms. Be careful though." She dips her head and pads out with Hector. "Are you sure Leana and Kris are up to it?" Aura asks, concerned, "They've just joined up with Pearl and Shine." "They'll be fine," I mew briskly, "We don't have enough cats to spare anyways." Dew looks grim. "We must consider getting allies. There's no way we'll survive a war against the Clans. We don't have enough cats." I nod. "Hopefully if the toms will join in on this, we'll be fine." Aura buries her head in her paws. "Sari, we can't join up with the toms. This is a disaster." I nudge her. "I'm sorry that you don't agree, but I'd rather lose our reputation than lose everything. Or anyone for that matter." Leaf shoots me a strange look and Dew snorts. I ignore them and focus on Aura. She sighs. "You're right," she nods, "We'll have to arrange a meeting with the toms soon then." I feel a thrill at the thought of seeing Ice once more. Even if we would act like total strangers, there's a possibility that he'll realize something foolish about his 'I must stay away from you' deal and we can meet up again or something. Well, I better hope he joins our side of the war. A little nagging thought pierces me. What if he sides with Shineblossom? I shake my head furiously, trying to clear away the negative thoughts. He loves you. That's what he said. He would never betray you like that. But I have a bad feeling about this. "Okay, next issue," Aura thumps her tail on the floor, "We need to start preparing our cats for war. We need strategies and of course training." "I can do training," I offer immediately. "Fighting is kind of my thing." The silver she-cat nods. "You'll organize the training sessions and of course supervise them. We'll probably rotate cats in and out." "Four per day," I mew, "This way we can focus on hunting and other things." Dew straightens. "I can help with strategizing," she murmurs, "or I could lead hunting patrols and that sort of thing." She seems to glance self-consciously at me. I shrug. "Either one would be fine," I admit. We need all the help we can get to prepare for this war. Dew looks a little surprised at my agreement and I really don't blame her. I didn't used to be so agreeable. Aura just nods tersely. "Sari, you'll help with planning too right? We'll need your war instinct to create some good plans and such." Aura glances at me for help. I feel uncomfortable with all the sudden attention. Surely someone who had just come back after about a moon or two shouldn't have so much power? But we're on the brink of war. "I'll help," I mew grimly, "We'll need all the help we can get." "Dew," the gray she-cat snaps to attention, "Take a few cats hunting. Tomorrow, you'll fetch a few cats capable of creating something worth using and we'll formulate our first war plan." Aura turns to me. "Are you up for a training session?" ~ The problem is that Aura isn't her with me right now. She's talking it over with Leaf about how the healer should find some sort of way to teach the others about herbs. In the midst of a war, a lot of us are going to suffer from major injuries. And after that, she'll be going out and around to recruit more cats. Hector and the others have yet to return from their mission to inform the toms about our alliance. So here I am, stuck with four cats who don't care what I say. They're sitting there and having a normal chat as if I don't exist. I glower at them, though it's not as satisfying since they aren't even looking. "Listen up!" I snap. Firefly and Moon glance over and I notice the worry in my old apprentice's gaze. I blink at her but she turns away again. Moon at least has the sense to continue staring at me, although she looks as though I have grown another head. Pearl and Shine, however, are completely ignoring me. I contemplate stalking over there and giving them a piece of my mind, but I promised Aura I would treat them nicely. "Fine," I huff, "I'll just let the Clans slaughter you when the time comes." That gets their attention. Pearl glares at me with hostility. "How come you get to order us around?" she mews unhappily, "I don't even like you." "It's okay, the feeling's mutual," I reassure her. "I bet you're not even that good." I raise an eyebrow at that. "Try me." She doesn't even hesitate to throw herself at me. I stepside and knock her down. Instead of pinning her down, I let her stand back up. She flings herself at me again and I duck, letting her roll onto my back before flipping her back over. She groans and doesn't get back up. I know that trick all too well. I ignore her and mew. "So, how about we cooperate and-" Something flashes at the edge of my vision and I whirl around in time to block Pearl's next move. She tries to sink her teeth into my paw but I push her down roughly. I glare at her. "Now do you believe in Aura's choice to allow me to supervise these training sessions?" She only growls mutinously before I let her up. I brace myself for her next attack, but she grudgingly stalks over to Shine and curls up into a ball. "Instead of sparring in pairs," I mew, "I think Pearl will fight the three of you instead." The cream colored she-cat glances at me sharply. I stare back evenly. "You seem confidant you don't to need to learn any new moves." She hisses in disgust but doesn't argue. I already know she's not going to beat Firefly, so I relax. "Actually, let's do a tournament sort of deal. Whoever wants to go first will choose an opponent. If they win, they'll get to fight another cat and so on. If they lose, the other cat gets to pick one of the other two remaining cats. In order to fight me, you'll have to have beaten all three opponents." Pearl immediately perks up. "I'll go first!" she declares. "I pick her!" She points at Moon. The gray she-cat blinks in surprise. I nod in approval and usher the other two young cats to the side. "Ready, set, fight!" Pearl lunges for the former slave. Moon falls backwards in surprise but manages to roll aside before Pearl could land her blow. "Claws shealth!" I yowl when I see the gleam from Pearl's claws. In no time, Pearl stands on top of Moon. It's obvious that the smaller she-cat wasn't going to win, as she never did anything other than do Aura's bidding. "I win!" She announces, as if I couldn't tell already. "I choose to fight her!" She points at Firefly. I smile to myself. "Ready, set, fight!" Pearl is quick to lunge first again. But Firefly hits her straight on her and pushes her back. Pearl narrows her eyes and this time she's more cautious. My former apprentice shifts from paw to paw, looking uncertain. But her eyes are calculating Pearl's moves, and I know that Firefly must have been watching Pearl's attacks last time. Instead of waiting for Pearl, Firefly darts forward and bats Pearl with her paws before leaning back and kicking out with her hindlegs. She falls on her back nad flips upwards, pouncing on Pearl. I thump my tail to the ground, impressed. Pearl doesn't look very happy to have lost, but Firefly challenges Shine first. Surprisingly, Shine prevails and manages to beat both Pearl and Moon. Shine is now facing me on the battlefield. She's small, only a bit smaller than Pearl. She looks about eight moons old. She stares at me with those intelligent eyes and I know she's the more rational one of the two that are new. She waits for me to finish my analyzation. Except I know she's been noticing me too, so I act as if I'm confidant about this battle. Shine looks hesitant. I flick my tail and look bored. Pearl scowls at my expression but Firefly looks amused. Suddenly, Shine darts forward, thinking I'm off guard. At the last moment, I raise my paws and slam right into her. She gasps in surprise and stumbles backwards but recovers quickly. As I lunge forward, she rolls out of the way and strikes my side with a quick paw. I groan slightly and leap to the side as Shine slams her paws down where I was. She's fast, I'll give her that. While Pearl may the rash one, Shine is more intelligent and stronger. It takes a few moments for me to finally overpower her. "You know a lot about fighting," I praise when I let her up, "Both you and Pearl are fast and strong." Pearl actually beams at my praise. Moon lowers her head. I pat the little she-cat's shoulder. "Don't worry, Moon," I tell her, "You'll get better. You'll learn a lot from watching other cats spar." She smiles a bit at that and I turn to Firefly. "Good job," is all I need to say. As I release the young she-cats, I can only think about how fortunate I am to have this opportunity to walk under the light. I'm back home.